Irish Astronomer Dave Grennan nets his 3rd supernova

Congratulations again Dave! And thanks for letting me be probably the 2nd person on the planet to see this!

I was at home on Good Friday, too tired to go up to the observatory, just messing about on facebook, when I noticed Dave say he was doing his supernova search. A little while later there was a cryptic post from him. About 5 minutes after that I was in the car rushing to the observatory to get some images!

Chatting online knowing that you are probably the only two humans seeing this supernova is quite a humbling experience. But also very exciting, and I got a great feel for what it must be like to make such a discovery! Dave was busy checking his images, getting the data just right, and repeatedly checking that no-one else has posted the discovery, before finally sending the email to the IAU. And despite all that work and excitement he still made time to help me get an email to the relevant people in the correct format to report a follow up observation.

So congratulations again and thanks for giving me one of the most memorable night's I've had at a telescope yet!

Heres my follow up image btw:

Ooh I enjoyed reading that! Very exciting! Thanks for sharing the story and the follow up image.

Congratulations Dave, very well deserved with all your efforts.

Eamonn
www.kingslandobservatory.com

Dave,

In case you don't know, there is an article about this in the June BAA journal.

Michael.